Wordless Wednesday- Bluebonnets

What was I thinking trying to get bluebonnet pictures of 4 kids all by myself......?? They weren't matching *gasp* but I was afraid if I waited any longer they would be dead or overgrown with weeds. So, I stopped that day. Heres what I got.......

Owen- Look at the pretty flowers.

Owen- hmm wonder what they taste like. 

Ava- this sun is really bright!

Owen- wow, flowers!

Ava- I'm not smiling, its too bright.

Elisa- Maybe standing Owen up will....help. Ok, maybe not.

Owen- whats on my foot??

Elisa and Audrey- Whats on Owens foot?

Ava- I'll fake smile but thats all youre getting.

Almost have everyone looking at the camera...then Audrey notices something new and just cant take her eyes off of it!

Mom- Oh, I give up! What was I thinking trying to get all 4 kids looking at the same time all by myself?!? Lets move on to individuals..... {see side bar}

Self-Control

For the past 13 days I have been cleansing. I've given up Dr Pepper, sugar, bread, cheese and anything processed in general. I've gone through some major withdraws I never imagined I would experience. 

I had no idea how addicted to certain foods I was. 

These past 2 weeks have been a big learning experience. 

I never thought I had any self control.
Really, I didn't.
I have never had to control what I eat to maintain my weight. I've never had to work at all to get the baby weight off after each baby. 
Until now. 
So, this is has been a new experience for me.
A very humbling experience. 
I feel like for the first time in my life I can understand how and why people struggle with their weight. 
Over the past 8 months when I would complain about my pre-baby clothes not fitting my sweet hubby would respond with something like 'well, if you would just give up Dr Pepper and sugar you would probably lose the rest of your weight'.
I would always agree but end it with...'but, I just can't'. And I really didn't think I could. I depended on my Dr Pepper to get me through the days. 

About 4 days into this cleanse, once I was getting over the caffiene withdraw headaches, I began to crave sugar and bread. BAD. I already went over this but in short, I really was going crazy wanting some bread or sugar. 

Here are some thoughts that went through my head during this period of cravings:
"Ok Lord, I know taking care of my body and eating right is important because we're made in your image and this body is your temple. ANd, I know eating a diet chocked full of sugar could make me get all kinds of diseases and make me live a shorter, less than full life. But.....so? Is that so bad?? So, what if I get cancer, or whatever, when I'm older. I want some sugar and bread NOW!"

What a temporal way of thinking! As Christians, if we're called to a higher calling and to be eternally minded, we've got to think that way in every area, not just some areas. If I'm not eating well and its causing me not to do the best job in this calling of motherhood then I'm not being eternally minded or  doing a good job of 'dieing to self' to serve the Lord! 

Through this journey of learning, and developing, self-control (in the area of food) I did some searching through Scripture to see what the Word says about self-control. 


Proverbs 25:28 says
A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.

Do you get how powerful self-control is? This verse is telling us that without self control we are vulnerable to the Enemy (enemies)! This could be applied to so many areas of life where self-control is needed, not just food. 

2 Peter 1:5- 8
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, ⁶and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, ⁷and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. ⁸For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Self-control is so important to God that its listed as a quality that, if you are lacking it, can make you ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord. Wow. Just wow. I know I do not want to be either one of those things! If I can't have self-control in the area of food then how weak am I in other areas?!

Galations 5:22-25

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ self-control; against such things there is no law. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Self-control is such a powerful thing that developing self-control is a fruit of walking in the Spirit. In these verses its followed by that fact that if you belong to Jesus, and walk in the Spirit, you WILL be able to crucify the flesh with its passions and desires. Um, hello sugar and bread cravings.

While eating sugar and breads isn't a sin or entirely wrong in and of itself it IS a sin and wrong when we begin to depend on these foods (or any food) for comfort or to meet any other needs. When I'm stressed and grab a Dr. Pepper to drink instead of stopping, regrouping and crying out to God then that Dr. Pepper is taking the rightful place of the Lord. Then its a bad thing.

I'm so grateful that the Lord put it on my heart to take this little cleansing journey. I feel I have grown and learned more about myself. All from depriving myself of some foods I really enjoy!

My friend, Abby, and I decided we're cutting our cleanse short by a week. So, we're only going to 14 days instead of 21. I think, for me, doing a cleanse like this for the first time for 21 days was a pretty big goal to set. I've made it most of the way through and I'm proud of myself! I only cheated once *gasp* and it wasn't that bad. (It was a teeny tiny cheat.) So, tomorrow is our last day of the cleanse.


Heres the thing though. I've developed eating habits that I don't want to break! I will be adding bread back into my diet but I won't be eating it with every meal and in between now. A little won't hurt but a lot will. 
I'm not sure if I'll start drinking Dr. Pepper again. It honestly doesn't even appeal to me right now. Maybe occasionally I'll drink it. Balance is the key in everything. We don't eat bad around here. Actually, I'm pretty sure we eat better than most families. {I think my extended in-laws think I'm a weirdo because I limit my kids sugar intake and don't let them drink cokes (thats soda or pop for any Northerners reading this)} But, I still don't feel like we eat good enough.

But, I'm working on it and this cleanse has really helped!


If you made it this far MAJOR props to you!
 

Not Me Monday

Dont forget to enter the Going Green Giveaway!






This weekend I did not make my kids pirate costumes to go to one awesome birthday celebration. 

I did not make 3 skirts for 3 little girls and cut 4 squares for 4 little heads.

I also did not ask my hubby to get a nice, white onsie and draw a skull and cross-bones on it for my 8 month old to sport to this party.

I would not go to that much trouble for something as silly as a birthday party! Nope, not me!

I did not let my girls all wear their good Winter boots, that could have been passed down to a younger sister, to this party. I did not let them go on an awesome treasure hunt in which they stomped through some awful mud,in their good winter boots. That mud was not so bad that as we {me carrying 8 month old, hubby carrying 2 year old and friend carrying 3 month old} were trying to keep up with a huge group of kids on the treasure hunt we stomped through the mud as well. Getting our feet stuck and grabbing tree branches to catch us from falling into the pond. I did not put my 8 month old in danger of mud for something as silly as watching a bunch of little girls find a buried (literally) treasure! 

I also did not let my 8 month old down to crawl through a big puddle of water while 4 other 2 year olds splashed through it. I also did not end up stripping him down to his diaper because he was having so much fun watching the big kids splash in the water that he got all wet!

Nope, not me!

Going Green Giveaway!

I am so excited to announce this fantastic giveaway I have for you today!

Are you ready?

It seems like everyone is on this whole going green bandwagon. And, why not? Whether you share the same faith as me I think we can all agree its best for all of us to take care of the earth, right? 

As a Christian I believe it's my duty to be a good steward of what the Lord has entrusted to me. Including my part of the earth. My little section of this great state of Texas. In our home. 
I also believe, as a Christian, I'm called to be a good steward of my body. It is the temple of the Holy Spirit after all, right? Same goes with the little bodies the Lord has entrusted to us to raise {read: our kiddos}. 
We should strive to take good care of the ourselves and the earth. 

With that being said, one big way to do this is by being aware of what we're using to clean our homes with. Think about it. If we spend the majority of our time in our homes, breathing the air in here, then shouldn't we make sure what we're spraying around here is safe for our health AND the environment? 

According to a 15-year study presented at the Toronto Indoor Air Conference, women who work at home have a 54% higher death rate from cancer than those who work away from home. The study concluded that this was a direct result of the increased exposure to toxic chemicals, many of which are found in common household products.

More than 9 out of every 10 suspected poison exposures occur at home with household products.
Scary, huh? But, I'm sure tons of you reading this are already with me on that. Right? :)

So, here is the big 

Going Green Giveaway

My good friend Gina has given me a big lot of Shaklee products to give to 1 lucky reader! Don't know about Shaklee? Click here to discover what they're all about!

Here's what you'll get:

Dish wash concentrate. (liquid)

Basic H2 Organic Super Cleaning Concentrate (16 oz. bottle of this makes 48 gallons!)

 

Scour Off Heavy Duty Paste (this stuff is AMAZING!)

Hand Wash Refill (32 oz)

And last, but not least, and definitely important...

Get Clean 16 oz. Spray Bottle 3-Pack

Grand total worth of this stuff: $57.25 (before shipping)!!! 

Heres how to enter:

To enter to win: Visit Shaklee and tell me which of their items is your favorite or just something you learned about their products.

Extra Entries (available after the mandatory entry above is completed; please leave a separate comment for each entry in order for them to be counted).

1 Extra Entry- follow me through Google connect.
1 Extra Entry- follow me on Twitter. (Im new, and still figuring out the whole Twitter world. So, bare with me and the boringness that is my profile!)  

1 Extra Entry -  Tweet or Facebook about this giveaway. Link from the tweet or status.

3 Extra Entries-  blog about this giveaway linking back to Because He Gave and Gina's Shaklee page. Please leave an address where it can be found.

7 Extra Entries-  purchase any Shaklee product through Gina's Shaklee page. I'll verify through her to confirm your order. 

If you do ALL of the above thats 14 chances to win!

ETA: If you start following me on Twitter make sure and come back and leave a separate comment letting me know you're following. Following without the comment won't get the entry, you have to let me know. :) Just want to make sure everyone gets all their entries counted! 

This giveaway will be open until 11:59 PM on Monday, May 10 2010.

Honest Scrap

 

 

My friend Jennifer (click on her name and you can check out her blog) passed on a blog award to me. Thanks, girl!! 

This award seems rather appropriate tonight because I'm realizing that when my opinion is unpopular people don't want to be my "friend" anymore. Oh well. I agree with Jennifer, honesty is the best policy! If its the Truth...sorry!

 

So the rules for this award is to tell 10 things about myself and then tag 10 people to do the same. Here goes:

 

1. I have had a Dr. Pepper and sugar addiction.

 

2. Through breaking the above mentioned addiction {which has just been in the past 10 days} I thought I might die. No, really.

 

3. I won 2nd place overall in the school talent show when I was in Kindergarten. I sang Somewhere Out There from An American Tale. You know, the mouse movie.

4. I'm not quiet with my convictions and the way I feel about things but sometimes wish I could just keep them to myself. But, I dont just cant. 

5. People never believe my real age. They think I'm still a teenager eventhough I am always toting around 4 young kids. Its even more shocking when I'm pregnant.

6. I was a punk rocker in high school. I had short, red spiky hair at one point and pink tipped at another. Most people who know me now would never believe that. {I have the pictures to prove it my friends...}

7. During my punk rock stage I was at one of my favorite bands shows and was singing every.single.lyric. They tried pulling me on stage. I pulled back and wouldn't get up there, during the show. I have regretted it ever since. {well, not really. Actually, kinda}

8. I've flown a plane before. 

9. I'm not sure how many children we're going to have and people just can't seem to wrap their brains around that. 

10. I played the Oboe for about 6 weeks in 6th grade. I hated it. I wanted to switch to choir and the band teachers wouldnt let me. They told my mom I was too smart for choir, I should be in band. My mom took it to the principal and the next thing you know I was singing an On the Good Ship Lollipop solo.

So, there ya have it. 10 things you may not have known about me. 

Here are my 10 picks:

Stephanie at The Mommy Place

Megan at Simple Thoughts

Tessa at A Bundle of Blessings

Annie at The Wetzles

Brandee at Daily Life with the Scoggins Crew

Tina at Four Boys and a Girl

Terrah at The Mommy Effect (you've got tagged twice now girl. You have to do it! ;)

Christina at The Color of Love

Amy at Ramblings of a Christian Homeschool Family

Joy at  Howse Family Happenings

Whew, I think thats 10! If I missed some of my close friends, well, I'm sorry! Have fun stopping by these other blogs and seeing if they participated!

Friday Follow

This week I thought it would be fun to participate in the Friday Follow! It's fun reading other blogs and getting glimpses of others lives so I thought why not!

Raw{e} Water

I'm joining in the Raw{e} challenge over at Sailor and Company for the very first time!  

Here are her rules:

Link up your untouched water photos. Don't edit it in ANY way. We want to see your STRAIGHT OUT OF THE CAMERA shot!

Two pictures came to mind when I saw this challenge. One was shot with my old point and shoot {yikes!}. The other with my DSLR. Unfortunately, I decided the one with my good camera was too dark and opted for the one shot 2 summers ago with my old point and shoot. Besides, this brings back good memories!

Cleansing....

A week ago I started cleansing. 

I gave up foods I love.

And now hate.  

{But, really I only hate Dr Pepper.} 

So, how's the cleanse going I hear you asking. 

Well, good...for the most part. 

I'm so over my Dr Pepper cravings. But, with moving on from those cravings I encountered new cravings. 

Cravings like I have never before experienced. 

Scary cravings.

On this cleanse I can pretty much eat any fruit (fresh or frozen), veggie (fresh or frozen) and then 1/2 cup brown rice or lentils a day. I've kept in the protein because Im nursing so I've been eating 2 eggs a day and some days some chicken breast. Overall, that was holding me over pretty well. 

Until.....

the cravings for breads and sweets hit. 

Oh.my.word.

I was doing really well mentally until I took my girls to a birthday party on Saturday. I couldn't eat the cake. I {heart} birthday cake. I mean like really really love it. It's probably one of my favorite foods in the whole wide world. But, I was strong and had none. 

Then on the way home my sweet husband called. This was pretty close to the exact conversation:

Derek: Hi honey. I know this is really mean but um...will you pick up a pizza and a Dr Pepper.

Me: Oh no, its cool. Sure, I'll pick up a pizza and Dr Pepper for you. (I'm not really sure my thoughts were exactly that nice. But, ya know...I was on this cleanse by choice, right?)

Derek: are you sure? I know thats kinda mean. Im sorry.

Me: no, seriously. Its fine. Just call it in, I'll go get it. (whatever buddy. How stinkin' rude! Do you know I just passed up birthday cake?! BIRTHDAY CAKE! and now I have to drive 30 mins home with a pizza in the car!? Seriously!??!)

So, home I drove. 30 minutes home mind you. With a Dominoes pizza sitting in the seat next to me. 

On the the way home my bread and sugar craving kicked in in full force. Ava asked me what was wrong. I said nothing was, I just really wanted a hot, fresh from the oven home made chocolate chip cookie, that was all. {The next morning after church she brought me a chocolate chip cookie from her class. Sweet girl. Of course, feeling like a lousy mom, I couldnt eat it} 

I started feeling really down and blue on Saturday night. Not like cant breath so Im turning blue blue but like depressed blue. I continued to fight that until today. And the cravings for bread and sugar havent gone away. I googled the connection between feeling depressed and sugar withdraw and sure enough, theres a connection. {totally could have told you that!} I had no idea how addicted to sugar I am.

The cravings have been bad. Like, really bad. 

I feel like a drug addict needing a fix. 

Today I felt like I was almost over my sugar craving and just wanted some bread. Just a warm roll from Golden Chick. 


So, I found a solution! I found some recipes that use coconut flour instead of wheat (or white) flour. They call for ingredients I can eat! And if I can't eat an ingredient I can modify it to something I can have!! 


My awesome hubby {this was his penance for having me pick up pizza! :) JK of course} stopped by Sprouts on the way home and picked some coconut flour up for me. The minute he walked in the door I was on my way to making coconut flour pancakes! The recipe I found did call for honey or real maple syrup but since I can't have those I just left them out. I did think to throw in some mashed banana on the last couple pancakes to make them a little sweeter. I topped my pancakes with {fresh from the crock-pot} homemade applesauce.

My husband says this picture looks really gross. Let me assure you I think I tasted heaven tonight.

Let me tell you. I WAS IN HEAVEN! Totally cured my bread craving! I feel like I can get back on track and stop going completely insane thinking about bread and sugar all.day.long. {Seriously, it was that bad}


One big thing I've learned through all of this is that I do have some self-control! Honestly, I've wondered that about myself before. I mean I can abstain from bad things but when it comes to food {and Dr Pepper} I just eat what I want and don't hold the bad stuff back. Now, I know if I put my mind to it I can!

Well, I can because I have a God who gives me the strength, through the Holy Spirit, to practice self-control! Thank you, Lord!


So, I have 14 more days to go. That's all *smile* Six pounds down in 6 days, not too shabby. I'm pretty darn close to my pre-preggo weight but my old clothes still aren't quite fitting. Now, to figure out what to do about this belly fat......

Coconut Flour Pancakes

Coconut Flour Pancakes 
{with applesauce topping}:

borrowed from this site.

• 3 eggs

• 3 tablespoons butter or coconut oil, melted (I used the coconut oil)

• 3 tablespoons coconut milk or whole milk (I used coconut milk)

• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

• 3 tablespoons coconut flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 2 tablespoons honey or real maple syrup. (or you could use 1 over ripe mashed banana or any other fruit of choice)

Instructions:

1. Using a wire whisk, mix together eggs, melted butter, milk, honey (or your choice of sweetener) and sea salt.

2. Continuing to whisk, add the baking powder and coconut flour until thoroughly mixed.

3. Cook like you would any other type of pancakes :)

4. Top with choice of topping. I chose homeade applesauce.

My Very FIrst Blog Award!

Today I received my very first bloggy award! 

Hallee over at Hallee The Homemaker selected this blog for the

Thanks, Hallee! I am honored!

Crock pot (slow cooker) Applesauce Recipe

My good friend Stephanie over at The Mommy Place  posted a recipe for crock pot applesauce awhile back. Since I can eat everything in it while on my cleanse I decided to make some today. 

Here is her recipe:

• 10 lg. apples, peeled, cored & cut in chunks (we buy organic)

• 1/2 c. water

• 3 + tsp. cinnamon

• 1/2 to 1 c. sugar (optional)I'll be making it without sugar or possibly substituting Organic Raw Blue Agave instead. 

Put all ingredients into your crockpot. It should end up being about 3/4 full.
Cover and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours if you are in a hurry. 

Although I'm doing pretty well as far as cravings are concerned I'm thinking this will appease my sweet tooth if/when it shows up.  


So, I know you're just dieing to know how my cleanse is going thus far? The short answer: great. 


But, if you know me at all the short answer is never enough for me *smile*. As mentioned yesterday I had a terrible headache on day 1. Yesturday was much better. I discovered though I'm going to need more protien then I was eating. I was W.I.P.E.D. out! Being wiped out for me means not being a very nice mommy. So, while the idea of not having much protien sounds good it's just not gonna work for this nursing mommy. Once I ate some eggs I was doing much better. 


This morning I woke up with another headache but once I drank a smoothie it was gone. For lunch I decided to make an omlette. Having never made an omlette before it turned out more like scrambled eggs with veggies. It was delish though!! Nothing fancy but....
Heres how I made it:

2 eggs
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 tomato, diced
1 carrott, grated
sea salt to taste


I just ended up scrambling it all up together. Now I'm wondering why I've never thought to do that before! It was so good!


Last night my sweet husband encouraged me to weigh myself. I really didnt want to, didn't want to get discouraged if I hadn't lost any, but I did. I've lost 3 1/2 pounds since I weighed in on Tuesday night! My clothes don't really feel any looser but apparently I have indeed lost some! Yippe! It makes it all worth it if I'm already seeing some results!   


Tonight we're going to dinner at a friends so I'll be bringing roasted red potatos and carrots! I'll post the recipe once I've modified it to something I can have.

Dear Dr. Pepper

Dear Dr Pepper-

         I hate you. I didn't indulge in {what I once thought} was your delisiousness yesterday and all you did was leave me with a headache. A headache so awful I could hardly function.A headache so bad that anytime I moved in the middle of the night to nurse a waking baby my head pounded so hard I wanted to cry. I drank tons of water hoping to help wash you out of my system but my head kept pounding. I believe its one of the worst headaches I've ever had. 
      I once thought I loved you but now that I've tasted your betrayal through a massive withdraw headache I realize I want nothing to do with you again. {I'm serious, don't think I'm not. Don't think I'll change my mind in 21days when I can indulge in you again.}
         Besides, now that I've been informed that you increase my risk for cancer I really want nothing more to do with you. I've lost too many close family relatives to cancer over the past 6 or so years. So, I want to stear clear of anything I know will increase my {already higher due to family history} risk of cancer. And now that I know you're one of them, well that coupled and with the massive headache I got from leaving you, WE.ARE.THROUGH.

my best regards-

Lindsay

Wordless Wednesday

Generations

Meet Grammy. The kids great grandma.

My very first "photo shoot"

These are some '9 month' shots I took of our nephew. This was my first 'photo shoot' when I got my new camera. I'm still figuring everything out and several of these pics are untouched but I wanted to share them anyways. 

When it came to trying to get him to smile....yeah, didn't really happen. My girls {whom he loves} were with me but they couldn't even get him to crack a smile most of the time. 

That's ok though. I really tend to love serious pictures. And, this little guys serious pictures take the cake! Super cute! He looks like he's staring you down trying to figure you out.

Tomorrow is THE day

The day I start my 21 day cleanse. And, Im giving up some things I love. 

I know, love is a strong word.

But, there are 4 things I'll be giving up for my cleanse that I do love. 

First, I'll be giving up cheese. 

I have a dairy intolerance so this shouldn't really affect me. BUT, I can have cheddar cheese and boy do I love it! I have cheese on LOTS of stuff. I eat it as a snack, on sandwiches, tacos...you get the point. But, for the next 21 days I won't be eating it.

The second thing I'll be giving up is bread.

I really love bread too.  

Rolls, sliced bread, tortillas, I like 'em all. Especially Golden Chicks rolls. Oh this is making my mouth water.

 Actually, this might turn out to be THE hardest thing I'm giving up for my cleanse.

The third thing I'm giving up is sweets. 

Breakfast sweets....

snack time sweets....

shouldn't be eating the kids Easter stash sweets...

of all kinds of sweets.

Honestly, this may prove to be the easiest one to give up. With every baby I've nursed I have had an awful sweet tooth. But, I think I can overcome this one the quickest. {Hopefully thats not wishful thinking!}

When my hubby has listened to me complaining of not losing the rest of this baby weight his response is always 'well if you would give up sweets and Dr Pepper* you would lose it'.

Which leads me to the next thing I'll be giving up.

This, my friends, could quite possibly prove to be the death of my cleanse.

This little sucker here is my addiction. 

Dr. Pepper.

Ohh, how I love me some Dr. Pepper. 

I don't drink coffee in the mornings.

I drink Dr. Pepper. 

When I'm stressed....Dr. Pepper. 

When I need a pick-me-up...you guessed it. Dr. Pepper. 

You get the point. 

But, starting tomorrow, for the next 21 days I will not be drinking ANY Dr. Pepper.

And, I've realized something. Besides cleansing my physical body this cleanse will also be helping to purify my spiritual body. 

When I wake up in the morning...Jesus.

When I need a pick-me-up. Jesus

When I'm stressed...Jesus.

When I get my 'I need a Dr. Pepper craving it will be a subtle huge reminder to pray. 

Pray for my addiction but more importantly to pray for whatever the Lord lays on my heart. 

{pray without ceasing. 1 Thess. 5:17}

When I'm tired and cranky and want some comfort food {and a nice cold Dr. Pepper.} I'll pray. As I eat the physical fruit in my cleanse I'll pray for the fruits of the spirit to be abundant in my life.

{But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh........But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:16, 22-24}


My hope in the next 21 days is to come out changed in several ways. 
First, I'm not gonna lie, I hope to lose the rest of this baby weight {Yes, its still baby weight! He's only 8 months old!}.  
Second, I hope to rid my body of the build up of toxins. With a history of cancer in close family members I need to start doing this regularly. 
And third, I hope, through overcoming my need for these foods I can't have, I'll grow closer to the Lord. I pray I'll learn to rely on Him more for even the little things like giving up food I love.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1

Not Me Monday- Stinky Broccoli

  Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

As mentioned in the post about patience we went to visit Dereks grandparents this weekend.Before we left the house there was an awful smell in the kitchen. Of course there were tons no dishes in the sink so I wouldn't even think that maybe something buried was the culprit. Nor would I thinksomething might be stuck in the drain perhaps. Because, well, there were no dishes in the sink. I would not go out of town for the night and leave any dishes in the sink. Nope, not me!Since, there were no dishes in the sink I didn't feel the need to re-rinse them all just to ensure some food particle was not the cause of such stink. I also did not feel the need to run hot water down the sink for an extended period of time. 
When we returned home from our little trip we did not walk into an even stinkier house then we left. Because, of course, I did not leave a sink full of dishes waiting to be washed. I did not proceed to bag up the trash all in hopes of getting the stench out of the house.
While getting ready to reheat some left over dinner my husband did not open the microwave to discover I had left a plate full of broccoli* in there for, well, 3 days. :/ The awful stench did not suddenly consume all the air in the house and as we all gagged we did not yell at him to shut the microwave door.  In closing the microwave door my husband did not just leave the plate of stinky broccoli in there only to be awaiting my clean up later. But, since I didn't leave the broccoli in there the plate wasn't waiting for me to clean later.  On the above mentioned trip I did not let my 8 year old drive my 8 month old around in the Barbie jeep. Because, well that would be dangerous, right?   

  I did not run and grab my camera and get a few shots of the action but instead quickly told her to stop the car immediately and let the little guy out.  

 Because, obviously from the picture above, he was most definitely NOT enjoying himself! Nope, I would not allow such dangerous activities! Nope, not me!

*the broccoli left in the microwave was frozen organic broccoli. I dont normally heat up the broccoli in the microwave, because that just seems a bit lazy and unhealthy. Actually, who am I kidding? For some reason my kids love frozen broccoli and request that it only be heated 30 secs so they can eat it mostly frozen. Well, now the cat is out of the bag....I'm not perfect.